Author: kambe103643@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg

•  In what does the author offer insights and challenges into contemporary religious and cultural practices?
• To what extent does the impact of the text shape our implicit perception of a troubling world?

  

Yumna Al Arashi’s art and Kamila Shamsie’s novel “Home Fire” presents unique viewpoints on the representation of Muslim people. Both photographer and an author share a Muslim background, so it is quite interesting to listen to their perspectives.

The idea of troubling worlds is noticeable in the texts and it’s approached in a way, that fosters further thinking.

Starting off with Home Fire, it should be noted that Kamila Shamsie based the novel on Sophocles’s play Antigone. The concepts and ideas behind the main characters are almost identical. Both play and a novel gives an insight into the life of a family that loses its members. Families in both Antigone and Home Fire have to encounter severe and undeniably hard pressure from the society. By presenting the ideas behind Antigone in a new environment, Shamsie is able to show how contemporary and deep-seated the issue of discrimination is.  Along with that, Karamat Lone (a powerful state official) is unable to understand the situation or show any empathy, despite his Muslim background and that signifies the lack of connection between Muslims and the rest of society.

Yumna Al Arashi’s art has some ideas that resonate with Kamila Shamsie’s viewpoint. Al Arashi’s art presents Muslim women as confident and independent. This show the consciousness of choice that Muslim women wearing hijab have. Her vision of beauty may contradict with the Western ideas since, in her mind, the beauty doesn’t require body exposure. The model in her photo series called “Northern Yemen” shows her beauty through the poses, confidence and mystery in the look that she gives.

Concepts and ideas embedded give food for thought about the reality of Muslim people’s lives and challenge thinking.

Justify your choices on your practice IO. Comment on how both texts link to your chosen global issue.

For my practice IO, I have chosen “Top Girls”, a play by Carol Churchill and a political cartoon “Make America Misogynistic Again” by Saint Hoax as lit and non-lit texts respectively. “Influence of gender stereotypes on women’s position and rights” was chosen as a refined issue. Chosen texts represent the ideas of societal pressure that women are being put under. “Top Girls” contains characters, that are women living in different eras of history and through that, shows how gender norms and women’s position in society has changed. “Make America Misogynistic Again” uses the quotes of Pres. Donald Trump, in order to highlight the growing urgency of the sexism issue in American society. 

(My practice IO Outline)

Marlene:

Oh, this visit was exhausting. Finally, got rid of those…those…losers. I can’t imagine why would she want to keep waffling about the parents. She keeps bringing up the past way too much and it is not good for her future. Honestly, why does she think that it is all my fault? I just wanted to get out of this poverty, that my irresponsible parents made us live in. My own sister is no better than all those careless fellas. A woman like her could have easily worked in a proper company or something. And instead, she ruins her life by marrying that idiot, who doesn’t even like her at the end of the day. Anyway, I will let it be. Just hope her stupidity won’t ruin Angie’s life. I have to admit, the girl is pretty daft, but there are so many dumb people around those days, so there should be a place for her.

• How does the language each character uses reflect their personality and the back story that they represent? Use evidence and analysis to support your interpretation.

In Act 1, the author effectively uses specific language elements to represent each character’s background and personality. Marlene is a self-confident and successful woman, that lives in modern society. In order to fit this image of her, the author embeds politeness and formality in Marlene speech. This can be noticed through phrases, such “We’ve all come a long way. To our courage and the way we changed our lives and our extraordinary achievements” or “I don’t wear trousers in the office. I could but I don’t.”, which highlight Marlene’s oratory skills, as well as her confidence. Dull Gret is a character presenting the ideas of masculinity in a woman. Her rare and crude remarks, such as “Bastard” and “Potatoes”, create an image of a rude, uneducated and amusing woman. Isabella Bird was living in relatively modern times and had great freedom of movement, which is evident through her stories of travelling and critical views, which she allowed herself to express (“I did wish marriage had seemed more of a step”). Pope Joan presents the story of a woman, who had to give up a female body, in exchange for success. Her language (“It was easy, I was only twelve. Also, women weren’t / allowed in the library. We wanted to study in Athens.) indicates the limited rights that women used to have back in her times. Lady Nijo and Griselda are both can be considered as brainwashed by misogynistic attitudes in society. Both characters are attempting to advocate for their men, despite the suffering they had to experience.

• What is the effect of Churchill using interruptions and simultaneous speech in this Act?

Carol Churchill was able to show how uninterested the characters were in the stories of others, while actively trying to push their own. This allows the readers to realize how these women weren’t given a platform to express their opinions freely and independently. Moreover, some of the interruptions are used to present the conflicting viewpoints between the characters.

• What is the effect on the reader of the way that the scene ends? Why do you think Churchill has ended the scene in this way?

The ending of the scene leaves the impression of an active conflict of opinions. Throughout the scene, the atmosphere in the room has been becoming more toxic and unfriendly as the expressed opinions started to confront each other. From my perspective, Churchill has attempted to show how unsupportive women are to each other, despite so many things that unite them. It was hard to notice any sense of “sisterhood” or compassion between the characters, which sadly depicts the state of women’s relationships in modern society.

• What is interesting about the character of the Waitress in this Act? How is she presented? What do you think Churchill wants to show us by using this character?

In this Act, the Waitress serves as a reminder of the millions of women, whose stories are still being untold. The Waitress had no attention from the author and was silent throughout the whole act. Modern society tends to put a spotlight on success stories of a few while ignoring the stories of the millions, who are being oppressed and misrepresented.

The chosen cartoon portrays two girls playing with toys in the living room. The main topic of the cartoon is sexual violence. In general, the range of ideas presented in this particular cartoon is common for the works of Donnelly.

The picture shows the sketch of two girls of different races playing with toys, which signifies how all the different socio-economical and ethnical groups of women face the problems of sexual harassment. The calm and cheerful setting in the background contrasts with the caption, which says “When I grow up, I hope my rape allegations are believed”. This phrase is being said in an aside by both of the girls. Complete and deep understanding of this work would require the knowledge of the current political situation. Movements such as ‘MeToo’ or ‘Time’s up’ signalize the urgency of sexual violence and gender inequality issues. The flow of modern social tendencies plays a vital role in the understanding of this cartoon. Based on the example of this work, humour can be used to show the real state of ongoing issues as well as multiple perspectives on the construction of gender roles in a simple and accessible way. This work uses the fact that kids are forced to think about their future negatively from such a young age. The ignorance of society towards the issue of sexual violence sets low expectations for girls.

The purpose of the cartoon is to inform the audience about the issues of sexual violence and try to convince in the importance of the issue. This work has a strong effect on a viewer just like the other works by the artist. All of the works touch on problems of judgemental views, underestimating women and societal standards. Most of the works involve irony as an efficient tool to simply portray the issue.

To sum up, the political cartoon is a well-thought-out method of displaying societal issues. This work by Donnelly manages to show an objective on a reality of sexual abuse.

To what extent does the representation of women in advertising reflect or challenge the identity of women?

The advertisements below are considered to be gender advertisements. Each of them portrays women through strong, powerful and confident characters.

The first ad shows the woman worker with the flexed biceps. The woman wears working clothes, meanwhile, the slogan above her says “We can do it!”. The yellow colour used for the background is eye-catching and makes the audience pay attention to the poster. Initially, this poster was aimed at female labour force and its purpose was to boost female workers’ morale. However, in the modern context, the poster can be influencing both men and women of different societal groups, in order to support gender equality. The woman on the picture has a serious facial expression and looks straight into the viewer, which makes the audience feel her confidence. The woman on the picture has makeup applied on her face (brows, lashes and lips) and it contradicts the common belief that traditionally feminine elements (makeup, dresses or heels) are associated with weakness. So, suggested advertisement challenges stereotypes that are present in modern society through confronting biases related to appearance.

The ad on the right depicts the woman during the boxing training. This advertisement targets men and women of different social groups and its purpose is to embrace gender equality and women power. The main focus is set on the real model and the slogan uses the pronoun “yourself”, which tightens the connection with the audience. This advertisement mostly includes black and white colours, in order to catch the attention of the viewer. The medium shot is used, in order to show the physical strength of a woman. The athletic setting shows that there is a room for women in sports, which is commonly regarded as a male-dominated area. Moreover, there is more of the naked body shown in the second ad, compared to the first, which indicates the switch in the societal opinion on woman’s body acceptance. ‘Nike’ logotype is present in the picture. Through this, the company tries to associate its product with confidence, success and equality.

Finally, these ads attempt confronting commonly known stereotypes about women. The stereotypes are even more obvious when it comes to spheres such as industry, workplace or sport. As time goes, society embraces gender equality with a greater extent and it is evident through commercials.